We took Piccolo to our vet and he drew off 660 cc of fluid from his chylous ascites. The lab work we did on the fluid (the last time he drew off fluid) did not show Lymphoma but that does not mean he doesn't have it because, as I understand it, it usually doesn't show in this fluid until his organs are well involved. The ultra sound didn't reveal any tumors. Chances are greater that he has Lymphoma than anything else Piccolo is 6 years old and has adrenal disease. We can't afford the thousands of dollars it would cost to do the surgery, biopsies, chemo doctor, and chemo. We also can't afford to have this fluid drawn off every 4 - 6 weeks (I do understand that the fluid will collects more quickly as the disease progresses. Right after his surgery he looked like a brand new ferret but today he looks like he doesn't feel. We have started him on pred hoping that will help and that has proven to be a huge challenge. Piccolo is one of those extremely picky ferrets, he'll only eat his kibble and when he does its only when he wants to eat it. So far we have tried pureed chicken, pureed chicken with ensure, purred chicken with ferretone, purred chicken with ensure and ferretone, his kibble crushed up and moistened, his kibble crushed and made into a soup. He acts like its clavamox. He is 110% sure that there is no way that food will pass his lips. We have been able to get some food down him with scruffing and a syringe that comes with a fight and leaves him a little traumatized. We can't keep putting him through that kind of feeding process. We also do not want him to get an ulcer from the pred. We are going to see if we can let him out of his cage and see if he'll eat on his own then we can give him the pred. Most times when he gets out he goes over and eats. I'm just hoping he will continue to do this. We have also tried about every treat we can find. He used to like the Totally ferret treats but they don't make them any more. We're trying totally ferret food as a treat but so far its not been received well. In the back of my head with the way he looked today I'm thinking he does not have much time. Any ideas? Mike [Posted in FML 7858]